Lake Orion’s varsity hockey team started its 2011 season by competing in the Novi Showcase tournament last weekend. Despite playing hard, the Dragons came up a goal short in both games.

Friday’s contest against Northville, coached by Clint Robert who led the Dragons to the semi-finals in the state tournament last year, was a physical back-and-forth battle which ended in a 2-1 loss.

“There were a lot of penalties and they killed the flow of the game,” Lake Orion Head Coach Nick Field said. “Northville scored a 5-on-3 goal and a shorthanded goal, but when we played five-on-five, we were good and controlled the play.”

On Saturday, Lake Orion played Livonia Stevenson, a program with a long tradition of producing great teams and players. In a physical game, the Dragons came up short again, 3-2. The team fell behind early, 2-0, in the first period, before Shane Stockwell answered with a goal assisted by Brad Bogus and Mark Nylen.

In the second period, the Dragons responded again with a pretty tic-tack-toe goal by Justin McKelvey, with assists from David Otto and Trevor Knight. Unfortunately, Stevenson put the close contest away with a third period goal.

Looking for its first win, Lake Orion next heads to Traverse City for a Thanksgiving weekend tournament.